Colloquium

I enjoyed attending my first colloquium at Kent State University earlier this week. The "job talk" given by the candidate provided an overview of her current research in middle school literacy classrooms and its implications for the future. As a member of the audience, I began envisioning myself in her place, perhaps in a few years. The most important aspect that I gained from my attendance was the realization that I have the desire and confidence to engage in these components of the interview process. I attribute this to my work in higher education for the past five years. My position and duties have steadily evolved at Baldwin-Wallace College, from teaching one night course a semester, to working full-time in the Division of Education. In addition to teaching literacy and teacher education courses, I spend many days presenting on various requirements of our undergraduate program, from freshman completing introductory field experiences, to student teaching orientation sessions, and cooperating teacher and college supervisor meetings. The unique audiences often require different presentation formats, and provide me the opportunity to discuss course requirements, strengths, and challenges across our educational program. These opportunities, along with professional presentations on my own research, should help sustain my comfort level with different audiences and interview formats.